Little Light Of Love
by Engrish Spy
Summary: The Diary of one Child and her stuggles with becoming a SeeD and finding her father. Future Generation Fic.
1. Notes.

Little light of Love

By Krazy Kool Snowborder Chick

Rating: parts are R and others PG-13

A/N: This is the time line. This should help you some with the confusion. Plus it clears up things like birth dates and holidays. Enjoy

Note 1: The birth dates of the real characters fall with in the months. The month system works as such:

Janues              January

Februs              February

Marceus           March

Aprilus             April

Mai                  May (The I in may is pronounced as an e like as in T**e**a)

Juli                   July

Augustus          August

Septus              September

Octobabus       October

Nova                November

Deca                December

Note 2: Winter solstice in the FF VIII world falls between the 6th and 12th of the month of Deca. 

Note 3: Julia's first attempt at the SeeD testing before the solstice break and then the 2nd after it

Note 4: New Years is in March rather then in January because of old Centra customs of celebrating the newly planted harvest.

Time line of the story:

Nova 6032: Ultimacia is defeated

Janues 6032: Rinoa leaves Garden

Augustus 9th 6033: Selphie and Irvine wed along with Zell and Nat (The library girl)

Augustus 12th 6033: Julia born

Mai 18th 6034: Lily born

Juli 31st 6034: Raymond born

Nova 2nd 6034: Lixue and Chen born

Juli 24th 6035: Irvine becomes Chief Medical resident at Garden

Augustus 12 6035: Seifer and Quistis wed. Julia's 2nd birthday

Augustus 15th 6035: Rinoa returns to Garden as a teacher. She brings Julia with her.

Deca 25th 6036: Dante born

Augustus 12th 6046: Julia's 13th birthday. Story begins

Nova 6049: Julia fails 1st attempt to become a SeeD

Janues 6049: Julia, Lily, and Raymond pass SeeD test

Augustus 6050: Julia finds picture

Septus 6050: Mission to Ocean Floor Research 

Octobabus 6050: Julia disappears. She is presumed dead

Deca 6050: Julia comes back. Selphie is pregnant

Februs 24 6050: Squall and Rinoa marry

Marceus 6051: Selphie and Irvine's baby due


	2. A Past Revisited.

A Little Light 

By: Krazy Kool Snowborder Chick

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers. 

A/N: This is my first Final Fantasy 8 fan fiction. This had been bothering me a lot since I thought it up on a vacation I took. That was two years ago. It's taken me that long to write this and this is only the first chapter. Oh I took the title from a Fifth Element Soundtrack song. I was listing to that soundtrack a lot when I was both designing the characters and writing the story. Enjoy.

PS: I'm sorry I jump a lot from first person to third person. It's just the way I wanted to do this. I am also sorry I jump time a lot as well. I'm trying to tell background stories along with Julia's story. 

6046, New Moon,

My name is Julia Heartilly and today is my thirteenth birthday. I live at Balamb Garden with my mother, who just happens to teach magic, and I have been attending since I was about 10 years old. I have two very good friends, Lilly and Raymond. Lily happens to be a self proclaimed Goth, whatever that means. She is really smart and quite and is nothing like her mom and dad who go nuts about everything. 

Raymond is my other best friend. He is confined to a wheelchair after he was in an accident when he was three. His mom died and he's been living here with his dad, like me, ever since. My mom told me that Lily's parents and Raymond's dad were her friends like us, back in the day. They still continue to be friends even to this very minute. I hope Lily; Raymond and I are all like that when we grow up. 

My likes are Tetra Master (A card game), hotdogs, and Instructor Trepe. I find that she is the best instructor at Garden. I like her so much, that the older Cadets have dubbed me "The Lone Trepe".

The only down side to being me is that I don't have a father, but I intend to change that.

~*~

(Present Day)

Rinoa walked the blindfolded Julia into the cafeteria. Small giggles escaped from the students who had been invited to the birthday celebration. Rinoa undid the cover from Julia's eyes.

"Happy Birthday!" Exclaimed the ten to twenty guests who had been invited.

Julia shrieked in excitement as she glanced around the decorated cafeteria. She had never really gotten the chance to celebrate her birthday with her friends and family. Usually it had always been a trip to Ethstar to visit Grandpa Laguna and then back to Garden for school.

Julia smiled and hugged her mother and then ran to get birthday hugs from the rest of the people around her. She ate, she had fun she was happy but the only thing that was missing was…

~*~

Well the party went well. My mom gave me the journal that I am writing in right now, and Grandpa Laguna, who showed up for my birthday party, gave me a ring. It looked like the one mom wore on her necklace. Grandpa told me that is was exactly like the one that my father wore.

Lily gave me a new set of Tetra cards. I think with this new set of cards I have the entire level one and level two cards now. Raymond gave me a new pair of gloves to update my rather ratty beginner pair I've had for over two years. I figure it will take a while to break them in.

Aunt Selphie and Uncle Irvine (Their Lily's parents) gave me a new outfit. A pair of heavy-duty cargo, still flexible but whiling to take the damage I put into clothing. As well as a new tank top and a blue short-sleeved shirt to wear over the tank top, for modesty sake, my mother told me.

Uncle Zell, Raymond's dad, gave me a subscription to "King Fighter". It has good resources for martial artists like myself. Yep at thirteen I already have a weapon, my fists, and already I am a master in two forms. Wushu and Judo and yesterday I managed to do a black flip. It was cool

Mom was kind of upset when The General, the more affection term for my mother's father, gave me a golden retriever put. More or less it was almost four months and ready for a new owner. The General argued that mom had a dog at thirteen and then pointed to mom's aging dog, Angelo. I laughed and then named my new dog, Princess, after an old nickname of my mothers when she was living in Timber. Let's just say Angelo just rolled over and went back to licking himself not caring for the new pet.

The bell just singled for lights out and the faculty will be doing bed checks for the younger students (mainly for kids my age)

Julia

~*~

(Thirteen years and nine month earlier)

"It turned blue, Rinoa" A blond hair girl with metal wire frames said to a dark haired girl lying on the bed.

"Are you sure Quistis?" The dark haired girl asked

The blond one just nodded her head up and down. The dark haired one broke down crying, placing her face into the pillows.

"What am I going to do, Quistis?" the girl cried to the blond haired girls

"The only option in a case like this is to terminate." The girl named Quistis answered with a shudder.

"No, no I want to keep the baby. I don't want it to grow up with out a chance but…"

"But what?"

"I just don't think that Squall is ready to be a father. I mean he seems to care more about the direction that Garden should be taking and he wants to do so much." Rinoa said as she wiped her eyes.

"You're not going to tell him Rinoa?" Quistis asked while she adjusted her glasses.

Rinoa shook her head and then started to cry again

~*~

"So where will you be going Rinoa?" A blond haired man asked the black haired girl.

"I don't know Zell, " The girl answered pushing her wind blown hair out of her eyes

There was a tiny group of about five or six people standing on the tiny platform in Balamb village train station, wishing well to one of their own as she left for places unknown.

"I'm gonna miss ya, Rin. You've been like a sister to me." A small brown haired girl cried.

"I'm going to miss you to Selphie" The black haired girl said and hugged the very emotional girl.

"I think we're all going to miss you. You have been a definite treat to Garden and your presence will be missed. Just know that if you come back there will be a job waiting for you." Middle-aged man said with a smile.

"Thank you Headmaster Cid." Rinoa said

"Last call to board," stated the mechanical voice of the PA system.

The little group gathered for a group hug. Rinoa was reluctant to break the hug, but she had to go. She removed herself from the hug and gathered up the duffel on the platform and boarded the train. As she took her seat she failed to notice the browned haired man with a scar on his face appear in the station hoping to stop her from leaving. The train pulled out and he was too late.

Rinoa pulled out a book and opened to the first clear page. She took out a pen and looked at the paper. After a few minutes of looking at the blank page she began to jot down on the paper her feelings.

"I Rinoa Heartilly am a pregnant teenager who was once in love with a man named…"

~*~

6049, Full moon (Four years since first Entry)

After seven long years, I did it. I passed the damn field exam. It didn't help that I failed my first time…

~*~

(Year earlier)

"You did what?" Two very shocked teenagers screamed in unison.

"I had to go! I drank too much water before I left." Julia whined and began to band her head off the table.

The three teenagers were eating lunch in the cafeteria, and as usual they were out of hot dogs. This seemed to make Julia's bad day even worse. Raymond wheeled over to Julia 

"Doesn't surprise me," Raymond said with a sarcastic pat on Julia's shoulder.

Julia reacted with lighting speed and bit hard into Raymond's hand. With a yelp Raymond wheeled back over to Lily and his behind his tray. Lily giggled slightly but then returned to her usual quite and sullen nature.

"You know you shouldn't do that unless you want his extra hot dogs at dinner." Lilly said matter of faculty and then went back to counting her new acquired tetra cards.

Julia growled and then left the table to get a chicken burger. It was what the cafeteria seemed to have after the hot dogs went out. When Julia returned she noticed that Raymond and Lily had started a game of Tetra Master. Julia sat down with a groan and watched until Raymond lost to Lily, and losing the only good card that kept him from losing, his prized 'Zell Card' his grandmother gave him before she passed away. Lily gave a rare cry of glee and then turned to Julia.

"So when is the next time you can write the field exam?" She asked in a soft voice

"Um not till after the Solstice break," Julia answered and then took a big bite of the rubbery chicken burger.

"That means you'll be taking it with us." Raymond said

"I guess so," Julia said with a shrug and the teens went back to their lunch

~*~

It was the best thing I have ever done. Lily and I had to protect Raymond and another SeeD as they disarmed a computer. And for once it was cool to be in my school uniform. I felt so proud to be a cadet in Garden. It was weird to don the girl uniform for the SeeD's; you see I like to be different…

~*~

(Four years earlier)

"But mom" Julia whined as she stood in the middle of the living room in her living quarters.

"But nothing Julia. How many times do I have to tell you? The school has a proper girl uniform. Please try and wear it" Rinoa say vehemently as she paced the living room. Rinoa almost tripped over the hyperactive puppy. She stopped and looked at her daughter.

There in the middle stood her daughter in the men's cadet uniform much in the style of her father. All she was missing was the scar on the bridge of her nose and forehead. Rinoa was glad that Julia was not a gun blade specialist and did not have any fatally enemies. 

The door suddenly opened. In came Selphie who looked like she was arguing with Lily. Lily looked like she had been forced into the girl's uniform again. 

"Having problems with your daughter in the uniform department." Selphie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lily scowled at her mother with distaste and motioned to Julia with a gagging motion that she really disliked the uniform Julia giggled and proceeded to do the same. They both received stern glances from their mothers.

"It's the age, it will pass." Rinoa said and then laughed with Selphie in a motherly fashion.

Julia pointed to her head and made the sign for cuckoo and mouthed to Lily 'Crazy'. Lily stifled giggles, which caught both mothers' attention. Julia received a stern lecture from Rinoa. After twenty minutes of lecture Julia began to get annoyed.

"Are you done yet?" Julia asked 

"Yes, and go and change." Rinoa said in a harsh tone

"No" Julia notified her mother sternly.

"Fine, just get it approved with the Head master, Julia" Rinoa said giving in to her daughter.

With that the two girls ran from the room.

~*~

The ball was really beautiful this year. Mom, Aunt Selphie, Uncle Irvine and Uncle Zell made Lily, Raymond and myself pose for pictures. That was a little embarrassing but hey we passed. Yeah Booyah!

Lily still trying to get me to use Booyaka like her and her mother but I think I will stick to the classics thank you.

Did I mention that it feels weird to wear the skirt. Mom and Uncle Zell say I look cute. Yech I hate that word. Think it would be better if they said I looked nice. Sweet would be pushing it but they said cute.

During the ball I did some circulation. Lily wanted to hand out in a corner and watch her latest crush, so I left her to stare. Raymond on the other hand was trying to hit on a girl who had become a SeeD with us. I danced with a guy from my Judo class and I talked to Uncle Zell about a new technique he wanted to teach me. He figured that I could add it to my pitiful limit bank. After awhile I sat down at a table…

~*~

Julia felt like a heel, first pictures not having to suffer through a ball. She did like most balls that she had attended including the actual diplomatic kind she went to in Ethstar she just was not enjoying this one very much. All her friends were doing other things, and she could not hang out with her mother, she was faculty. Julia sat at the table looking board. 

Rinoa noticed that her daughter was not fairing very well and went over to her.

"Hey honey, what is up?" She said taking a chair to Julia's left.

"Not much, Lily's in stalker mode and Raymond is in leech mode," Julia said from her thinker type position.

After a few minutes of silence Rinoa broke it with something she wanted to tell her daughter.

"Did I ever tell you how your father and I meet?" She asked the board girl

"Not really" Julia murmured

"Well it was on a night like this one and it was at a ball much like this one." Rinoa remarked

Julia perked up at the sound of a story of her father. Even though she had never met the man she seem to idolize him. In Julia's eyes he could do no wrong. Rinoa could see that she had interested her daughter and continued. The "Waltz for the Moon" began in the background and the SeeD on the floor began to dance.

"We danced to this very same song, and the very same moves that these people are doing now." She said with a little sadness in her voice.

Julia stared at her mom who had become somewhat misty eyes at the retelling and then was shocked when her mother left the table. As soon as her mother left a young woman with long silver hair, slightly darker skin then Julia and a strange tattoo over her eye appeared in front of Julia.

"What do you want, Lixue?" Julia asked the girl

"BOARD" the girl stated in a firm voice

Soon a boy who looked like the brother of the girl appeared next to Julia. Julia shrieked and jumped out of her seat when he came close to her.

"You like don't have to yell. Ya' know " the boy said as he held his hand in his hands.

"What the hell do you think your doing Chen. I thought I told you to stop doing that?" Julia screamed at the boy.

"WANT'S YOU. DISAPLINARY COMMITY!" Lixue stated.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys, no?" Julia said and headed in the direction of Raymond.

"Like many and ya know we still want ya as our head posse." Chen said with effort.

Julia became annoyed. In fact the twins always seemed to annoy her no matter what. Julia grabbed Chen by the collar.

"I already have a posse. So leave me alone." She growled to the man and then left him quivering.

~*~

I ended up meeting the Disciplinary Comity tonight and it does not help that they are both related and expect to have a leader. They want it to be me but I can't stand the two. Chen can only talks in Ebonics and it drives me nuts and Lixue is a little on the forceful side. Not to say I am too it, it's just that I know when to say when with being forceful and she does not. 

This day would have been perfect if my father had been here. As of today all I know about him is that I look like him and he meet my mom at a ball.

~*~

(Fourteen years ago)

"Mamma, can you tell me what my daddy look' like?" A three-year-old Julia asked her mother

"Well he had brown hair like you, and a scar across his nose." Rinoa said as she traced the exact line across the child's face. 

Julia giggled and then traced the same line down Rinoa's face.

"What else?" Julia asked.

"Well he was average height. He wasn't tall like Uncle Irvine, or short like Uncle Zell, just in between." Rinoa said as she continued to help Julia get ready for bed.

"Will I ever get to meet my daddy?" The little Julia asked with seriousness that a girl her age would not normal possess.

"Why do you ask?" Rinoa questioned trying to avoid answering the question 

"Well Lily gets to see her daddy every day, and the same goes for Raymond. They have daddies that take care of them. They play with them and teach them to do things." The girl said facing her mother.

"Well you have me," Rinoa told the girl trying not to cry

"Yeah and its nice and all but their daddies take them fishing and Lily's dad even got her a cowboy hat." Julia sniffled.

Rinoa brushed away the tears that fell on the young girl's face. "It's gonna be all right. Maybe tomorrow Grandpa Laguna will spend some time with you." Rinoa cooed

The little girl nodded and then let Rinoa put her to bed. Rinoa left the room and began to cry that her little girl would never really know whom her father was.

TBC…


	3. Time to Begin Anew.

A Little Light 

By: Krazy Kool Snowborder Chick

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers. 

A/N: This is my first Final Fantasy 8 fan fiction. This had been bothering me a lot since I thought it up on a vacation I took. That was two years ago. It's taken me that long to write this and this is only the first chapter. Oh I took the title from a Fifth Element Soundtrack song. I was listing to that soundtrack a lot when I was both designing the characters and writing the story. Enjoy.

PS: I'm sorry I jump a lot from first person to third person. It's just the way I wanted to do this. I am also sorry I jump time a lot as well. I'm trying to tell background stories along with Julia's story. 

6050, Quarter Moon (seven months after the SeeD inauguration ball)

Today mom asked me to clean out her storage area. I agreed to it because it's been very slow around the world lately. Lily was also bored and I roped her into coming to helping me. As we were dusting and cleaning, I came across a box of my mom's old mementos from her days in Timber as a resistance fighter. There were posters with crazy slogans and a framed picture of her and a man whose name was Zone, I think. 

Man my mom looked so much younger. Her hair was exceedingly longer then the length of her hair now. You see my mom cut her almost black hair when we came to Garden. She now keeps it about chin level. I think she looks great. I could tell that in the seventeen years since I had been born, my mother had developed laugh lines around her eyes and her once black hair was now starting to show her age, and sliver streaks were appearing in the black hair. I can tell I put a lot of strain on my mom growing up. She had to raise me as a single parent. Near the bottom of the box were two books. One just happened to be a picture album. The other I sat down over to the side. I opened the book and was greeted with the best find ever.

~*~

"Hey come look at this?" Julia expressed to Lily as she griped the dusty black photo album in her hands.

Lily dropped the box she had been handling and came to Julia's side. Julia opened to the first page and stared in awe. There on the page was a picture of a group of teenagers. They all looked about the age of the girls maybe slightly older, but still teenagers. The caption under the picture read 'Day after Ultimacia Defeat'

"Hey that's my mom and my dad!" Lily exclaimed as she pointed to the picture of a girl with sandy colored hair that was flipped up at the ends. She wore a yellow dress.

Standing next to her was a tall man in a duster and a cowboy hat. Julia smiled at Lily's excited gestures. Lily loved her fathers' coat and hat. She kept them with her at all times to remind her of him. Julia felt something drop in her at that thought.

"And there's uncle Zell with Raymond's mom. " Julia pointed to Zell and Raymond's mother, trying to lift her mood.

"Hey isn't that Instructor Trepe?" Lily questioned Julia.

Julia glanced at her favorite instructor and nodded. Time had certainly changed the instructor. "Who's the man beside her?" Lily asked and then pointed to a blond haired man with a scar across his face. Julia shrugged.

"He looks a little like, Instructor Almsay?" Julia said with a laugh and Lily just looked at her with an angry look. Julia turned back to the book.

As Julia glanced over the page her eyes caught a mysterious man standing next to her mom. His eyes were a blue colour that made her shiver. It was looking into a mirror expecting to see your self but seeing someone else. Julia stared for a little longer and then tore her eyes away when Lily asked her about the new CD she had just gotten for her graduation. She answered Lily with a grunt and turned to the next page. The next photo was of three girls.

"Hey I didn't know our moms had been friends with Instructor Trepe?" Julia's eyes turned starry eyed.

Turning the page again there were many pictures of their mom's, Lily's parents, and a few with Lily's dad, Raymond's dad and the mysterious boy with the brown hair and piercing eyes. On the last page was a picture of Julia's mom with the mysterious boy. Rinoa had jumped on the man's back and had him in a headlock. They both were smiling at the camera. The caption at the bottom read 'Squall and Rinoa together, forever'.

"Must have been a boyfriend before your mom meet your dad?" Lily said from behind Julia's shoulder

"I guess, Mom always told me I was conceived after the Ultimacia attack. What if that man is my father?" Julia said to Lily 

"I don't know. I thought your father died?" Lily questioned knowing that if they continued this discussion any further, Julia would be in a rut for the rest of the day.

"Well she really told me nothing. I think I told you he died in some magnificent mission when I was eight so that you would like me and I guess feel jealous of me." Julia said bringing her legs underneath her. Something she had inherited from her mother.

Lily nodded and went back to cleaning around. Julia spoke from where she was perched.

"She says I look like him. She says that there are things that I do that remind her of him. When that happens she gets very sad. Sometimes she won't even look at me. Does that mean that I really was not wanted?" Julia said sadly as she fingered the photo of her mom and the mysterious man.

"Let's get out of here the dust is making you think really weird things. Any ways we are done. No thanks to you I might add." Lily remarked

Lily pulled Julia away from the book and dragged her out of the room, but not before Julia could pocket the picture.

~*~

The picture is tucked between the corners of my mirror in my dorm room. I need to have hope. Mom has been avoiding me lately because of my quest to find my father. She always seems to get angry when I probe her for questions on him. She's more silent. Uncle Zell will only tell me that he was a SeeD student and that I have a tendency to place my hand to my head when I get embarrassed or I'm thinking hard. Aunt Selphie is just avoiding me completely as well.

Hey at least I have a name this time. Squall, I like it. Sound kind of restless, without a quest. Wait I have a quest. I want to find this man named Squall. Next time I see Grandpa Laguna I'll ask him for answers that my family and friends cannot answer.

Julia

~*~

(17 years ago)

"Do you relies how dangerous it is to be out there?" said a man with long sandy brown hair held back with a leather thong.

"Don't worry about me and your granddaughter. We are going to be all right. I'm just going to do some extra rounds to the poor people who live out on the plain here." Rinoa reassured the aging president of Ethstar.

She felt a sharp pain in her side. It had been happening all day but Rinoa had just attributed it to an active and awake baby. "Boy you kick a lot for a girl," Rinoa stated to her stomach as she grabbed the last basket she was taking out to the families. 

As she moved around she felt another shape pain grip her. This time it was more violent and hurt the most of all the pain she had had in the day. She felt a warm feeling down her leg. Laguna rushed to her side.

"Are you going to be ok?" He asked her

She looked at him and with a worried face sputtered, "I think my water broke!"

~*~

Rinoa cradled the newborn girl in her arms with care. At eighteen she felt scared that she was giving birth, but holding the little treasure in her arms made the fear of taking care of this little girl fly away.

"So how is the mother or my pretty granddaughter doing?" Laguna asked as he popped his head into the room.

"She is fine" Rinoa replied as she adjusted herself again

"I found some friends of yours along the way," Laguna moved into the room 

A large group of people entered the room. She gasped at the surprise.

"Rin!" Selphie exclaimed 

Irvine, Zell, Zell's new wife Nat, and Quistis followed Selphie.

"It's great to see you all." Rinoa was in tears. "But how did you all get leave at the same time?"

"I'm here to act as a mediator between the two trade delegations that are meeting here in Ethstar." Quistis stated as she adjusted her glasses.

"We're here on our honeymoon." Selphie said excitedly and pointed to her and Irvine and Zell and Nat.

"Congratulations are in order then." Laguna said in his most professional voice.

"Now if we could only get a certain someone to see the light." Quistis said with a grim smirk.

~*~

"So what are you going to name her?" The blonde instructor asked Rinoa as she was breast-feeding the little girl.

"I don't really know what to call the little angel?" She said as she switched the little babe to the other side.

"You could always call her Raine?" Quistis suggested.

"Where in the hell did you come up with that name?" Rinoa look towards the blonde in confusion.

"It was the name of Squall's mother. Ellone told me after the Ultimacia fight that she was her foster mother and Squall's biological mother." She said with a nonchalant tone

Rinoa held back the tears and then placed the baby close to her shoulder to burp her.

"He never told me that…" Rinoa drifted off into thought

"He never told us anything. I think he likes to be alone." Quistis gave a very unladylike snort.

"I think I'll call her Julia." Rinoa said to no one even though Quistis was sitting in the chair.

"Why?" Quistis asked

"Because that was my mother's name and I really never got to know my mother and I fight with the General. I think it will make an excellent name." Rinoa said as she laid the baby across her forearm supporting her with her palm.

"Julia sounds like a strong name for one very strong girl." Quistis said from her chair.

There was silence for a few minutes, "Does he think of me at all?" Rinoa asked Quistis looking at her with her tear filled eyes

"All the time. He is always asking me if I talk to you at all." She said as if letting go of the breath she had been holding ever since she got here.

"You haven't told him anything?" 

"Don't worry. He does not know. I don't think he deserves to know." Quistis took off her glasses and cleaned them.

"Thank you" Rinoa whispered and looked at the little girl she held.

~*~

6050 Half Moon

Well I began my search for my father today. The first place Raymond told me to look was in the main data banks at Garden. So with his help I was on my way, accept I hit my first major roadblock.

~*~

Julia sat in the empty classroom at her data panel. Raymond sat facing her with a data pad in his hand. There was a mess of wires that connected the panel to the data pad.

"Thanks for doing this for me Ray," Julia said as she waited for Raymond to finish

His fingers moved swiftly as he began to hack the main database. There were a few minutes of silence and the occasional grown until he answered Julia.

"Oh no prob. If I didn't know my dad, I would be doing the same thing you are." He said and then returned back to the data pad.

"After a few more minutes of tapping away, Raymond was successful. He wheeled over to Julia and handed her the data pad.

'Here ya go. I'll leave you alone to do this." He said and then wheeled to the door.

With a final salute he was gone. Julia taped away at the panel in front of her. She reached the main search. She carefully typed in the name. "S-Q-U-A-L-L" she said as if in a trance.

She pressed the search button. After a two second wait, a name popped up. Julia looked carefully at the name. It read Squall Lionheart. She moved the mouse over to where it was. As she clicked a big red popup came up. 

"Fuck the Restricted." Julia swore under her breath. 

She felt dishearten and then switched off the panel. She rose and headed for the door. Soon an announcement was made over the PA.

"Would Julia Heartily, Raymond Dintch, and Lily Kinneis please assemble in the front hall." The mechanical voice blurted out.

"Damn." Julia swore and began to jog down to the front foyer

~*~

Julia stood talking to Raymond and Lily as they awaited the arrival of what they no-doubtly thought was to be their assignment for this week. 

"Attention." Called a voice

The three snapped to attention, Julia and Lily standing as straight as poles and Raymond doing the best from his chair. A portly man walked into the sight of the three. At age sixty-two, Headmaster Cid of Garden did not look a day over fifty. Cid adjusted his glasses and then motioned towards them.

"At ease." He said.

Even though Cid was not as young as he looked he partook in most of the duties that he had been doing since the inception of Garden. Julia, Lily and Raymond relaxed into military fashion and awaited their orders.

"We received a call from Ethstar twelve hours ago at 0900 about one of their research facilities. It is one that sits right on the coast and goes down into the ocean floor. As with the deep Sea Research Facility, they are experiencing problems with their equipment and an enormous amount of monsters and what some witnesses have describe as 'Ghost'. Doctor Odin is asking for Garden to send a team of SeeD to investigate. You are to be at the hanger at 2200 for deportations. Your mission is to find out what is causing these appearances and the increases of the monsters." Cid removed his glasses and wiped them with a kerchief that he hastily put it back into his pocket.

"You are dismissed." The three snapped to attention.

The head master left the three alone in the front hall.

"So what cha wanna do for the hour we have to kill?" Raymond asked

"I'm gonna go pack and then I'm gonna eat what I can before the long trip to Ethstar." Julia said and then left the other two in the hall.

~*~

Well next to being sent on a mission, I think my quest to find my dad is on the back burner for a while. When I read the mission log on the trip to the Research Facility I saw that it might take weeks maybe even months because the monsters and 'ghosts' come very sporadically. 

Julia

~*~

(18 years earlier)

"Squall do relies what we just did?" Rinoa said as she curled her naked body up next to a man on the small military bed they were sharing.

"Yeah!" Was all he managed to say from his breathless position.

"Squall!" Rinoa exclaimed and playfully hit the sandy haired man.

Squall caught her hand and began to tickle her. It soon led to other things sweat and simple. They laid against each other again listing to the sounds of their breathing and of Garden. The party was still going on in the background. Squall gathered Rinoa in his arms.

"I love you Rin." He whispered to her.

"I love you to Squall." She whispered back.

~*~

6050, New Moon

It's been half a month already and I have yet to see this monster and 'ghost' activity. So I sit here, doing a lot of shadow boxing, something I picked up from Uncle Zell. Raymond keeps spending his time to find anything in the data banks in Garden for anything about Squall Lionheart. Lily ended up in one of the conversations and jokingly said to me that maybe Commander Lionheart was the guy I was looking for. I laughed at her and then told her that it would be impossible that he would be my father. My father has a huge red open scar on his face. The Commander did not. We laughed a little more and then turned the conversation in another direction. I can tell Lily has developed a fear of being under the water. I kind of like it. I remember a movie I watched when I was little and after that I bugged my mom to let me live under the sea. Any way we have duty watch in the sensor lab tonight.

Julia

~*~

"So what does it all mean?" Lily asked as she began to furl and unfurl her metal edge fans and then pulled into a perched crane position.

"I don't honestly know." Julia said as she held stress balls in her hand and tossing them back and forth with Raymond.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raymond asked

"Weather or not she should consult the magic eight ball about the guy in the dorm room next to her." Julia said with a smirk

"What did the eight ball say?" Raymond asked tossing back the stress ball

"The answer is within you." Julia said with a smirk and began to giggle.

Raymond joined her in her giggles. 

'It's not funny," Lily fumed.

"Yes it is." Both Julia and Raymond said in unison.

There was laughter for a while and then the red warring light came on. Julia and Raymond both snapped to attention and began to do a scan.

"What's going on?" Lily asked as she ran to her console.

"I don't know but it seems to be coming from the Beta Test Sight." Raymond stated as he began punching in the code keys to alert key officials. 

Julia manned the communications console, looking for the harried cries of the scientist down in the Beta Test Center. She soon caught their cries and warning.

"Monster attack… Hurry… something big…." The transmission was cut short.

"I guess that's our cue." Julia ordered as threw off her headset and jumped over the console.

She ran for the door. Lily was the next to follow and Raymond closely after. They reached the elevator to Beta Site. It would take them 2500 feet under the sea and partially underground. 

"Shouldn't we take the stairs?" Lily asked in her usual worrisome tone

"Yeah we should, but we're not cause of Ray." Julia said with an annoyed tone

Soon they were on the ground floor of the Beta Test Site. To Julia the underground Research facility was covered in smoke, wires and construction garbage. There was a loud rumble behind them. Julia was the first to turn around. There at their backs was the grotesque monster she had ever experienced. 

"Man what did I do to deserve this." Lily muttered and then unfurled the fans. 

"I don't know, maybe consult that dumb magic eight ball?" Raymond stated in contempt as he opened the special compartment in which he kept his ninja star.

"Enough of that you to, we have to attack it before he kills us." Julia said taking a long stretch and then pulled herself into low stance then changing to high empty stance with a left block palm.

Raymond had first attack. He threw Ninja star. Julia soon followed after with a lethal jump kick punch combo. Lily slashed the monster to its end. Soon they were headed down the trashed access tunnel towards the labs. They encountered a few monsters but did away with them easily. 

When they reached the labs there was a major wave of monster attacks. Soon as one was done another would begin. 

"It's coming from down below." A frantic scientist told them.

"Where the elevator?" Lily asked

Soon they were under the main lab. It was eerily quite. A single object in the middle faintly lit the room. Julia was entranced by the way it looked. She stepped towards it, reaching her hand out as if to touch it. 

'What is it?" Lily asked

The object pulsed and throbbed as Julia came closer. Raymond was horrified. Getting suspicious, he reached into his backpack on his wheel chair and pulled out the Occult Fan IX. He opened to the article on the Deep Sea Research Center. He quickly glanced over the article and then looked to the object fearing what he knew.

"Wait Julia." Raymond cried

Julia was oblivious to his calls. She walked towards the shimmering orb in the core of the cave.

"What is going on?" Lily was become scared

"It's going to join with her if we're not careful." Raymond said wheeling his way to Julia.

He hit a force field and was thrown out of his chair. Lily rushed to his side and helped him back into the chair.

"It's too late."

~*~

(At Garden)

A man was laying in a restless sleep that was taxing his system. He could see a girl, one of his SeeD. She was looking at an object. She was trying to touch an object that he could not identify. In the background he could hear the screams of her friends. It was the voice of the object that took over. A voice he had not heard in over seventeen years. 

"That is right my little one kome to me." It said in the heavily accented voice

The man shot right off the bed. His eyes were open and sweat ran down his face. He whispered one word, Ultimacia.


	4. The Path to Enlightenment.

A Little Light 

By: Krazy Kool Snowborder Chick

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers. 

A/N: This is my first Final Fantasy 8 fan fiction. This had been bothering me a lot since I thought it up on a vacation I took. That was two years ago. It's taken me that long to write this and this is only the first chapter. Oh I took the title from a Fifth Element Soundtrack song. I was listing to that soundtrack a lot when I was both designing the characters and writing the story. Enjoy.

PS: I'm sorry I jump a lot from first person to third person. It's just the way I wanted to do this. I am also sorry I jump time a lot as well. I'm trying to tell background stories along with Julia's story. 

Rinoa paced the front foyer of Garden awaiting the return of her daughter and her friends from their field mission. They had called back to Garden only a few days ago stating that they were returning because the problem had solved itself. Selphie sat near by. She was quite and calm. Zell came running into the foyer, with a look of a protective father on his face. Irvine came up behind him and sat next to Selphie.

"Hey mom, dad." A voice sobbed.

Out of know where came a brown haired girl in black. She flung herself into their awaiting arms. 

"Hey Ray, " Zell yelled to his son and ran the rest of the way to meet the teen in the wheelchair.

Rinoa looked in the far distance for Julia. She strained her neck and tried to look for anything that looked remotely like her daughter but turned up with nothing.

"Where is Julia?" Rinoa asked as the tears began to well up in her eyes.

"She's disappeared." Was all Raymond could state from his father's death grip. 

~*~

Squall sat in his office. He was tired and cranky, plus he was dealing with a whole new set of Cadets today who would just not co-operate with him in the training arena. He lifted up a paper that was a request for a delegation of SeeD to see to the security of the Princess of a Southern Island on the other side of the world and looked it over not caring at that moment. He rubbed the remnants of the scar on his face.

"What the hell do you think you are doing by sending my daughter on a mission?" Screamed a black haired girl.

Squall was startled by the intrusion. He looked at the woman who was standing in front of him. The love of his life, the woman he was holding out for, silently praying that she would love him back. But there was all ways something holding him back. His pride and the fact that she loved her daughter's father more then she had ever loved him.

He studied her for a moment. She had definitely changed over the year. He once long black hair was now short and he discovered the few grey hairs that popped up over the last few years. She now had the beginnings of laugh lines around her face. Well they all did now.

"May I ask what you are doing in my office?" Squall asked in a cold tone

"Julia, my daughter has not come back." Rinoa puffed 

Just then Raymond and Lily chose to come in. Squall motioned for them to sit and then proceeded to shuffle through the piles of paper of his desk for a debrief form.

"You may proceed." He said in a calm tone and then motioned for Rinoa to take a seat on the couch. Lily began to talk.

"We reported to Ethstar Underground Sea Research facility at 2200 hours on the full moon of Hyne Septus 6050. We observed that the facility for over a month. At around 2330 on the night of Half Moon Hyne Octobabus 6050 we observed that in Beta Test Area a small disturbance. Once we reached the main laboratory, we noticed a glowing light under the main catwalk that hung around the large cavern area of the test site." Lily could not continue because of tears in her eyes. Raymond took up the report.

"We descended into the cave and came upon a large crystal orb. For some reason our teammate Julia Heartilly was attracted to the sphere. I then came to the realization that the orb happened to be a Guardian Force that was about to be born. But there was also something in about how it was born. When I realized that it was too late. Julia was sucked into the orb and was gone from this realm." Raymond finished in a quite voice.

Squall took in everything they said. He was a little saddened that they had lost their best friend but then he remembered that they should not mourn because that was a SeeD's job. One must sacrifice their life to save others. He remembered that saying from one of the instructors on his first day. He remembered that he died shortly after that on the final test for cadets.

"Thank you for you report. I will see to it that you get sometime off. I suggest you see the good doctor in the medical center to see if you did not injure anything while you were out." Squall said dismissed the teens.

He turned to Rinoa. She sat on the couch in shock. There were no tears, no emotions, no life in the woman's body. She was pale and babbling on about something.

"What is my poor baby going to do, she had no mother or father to protect her right now?" 

"It's ok." Squall stated and kneeled in front of her. 

"Squall, shouldn't you be hard at work?" She looked at him with no emotions. Soon the tears came down her eyes and she wailed, " My baby, she's gone. My only child is gone." 

Squall tried to sooth her. She cried until she lay on the couch sleeping fitfully. Squall was there next to her. He picked her up and carried her down to her quarters in second level dorm for the instructors and their families. He did his best to keep from jostling the sleeping beauty as he made the way to her apartments. She moved but then settled. As he reached her apartment she began to mumble incoherently. 

"Julia I want to tell you. You do have a father. I can't tell you his name." She mumbled 

Squall moved to her bedroom and gently set her on the bed. He looked around her room. It was such a Rinoa room. It was littered with pictures of her and Julia, Julia and her friends, Rinoa and the other instructors, mostly his friends. There was even a picture of Seifer and Quistis on their wedding day. It was a picture of the whole wedding party. He could remember that day very well.

~*~

(16 years ago)

"Squall you have to be in the picture?" Quistis demanded to him. 

"Fine…" He grumbled and then went over to the group.

He felt out of place. He was only there because Quistis wanted him to give her away at the ceremony. He had done his job but sadly to say he was also roped into doing 'brother of the bride' duties. Squall stood in the back. All around him everyone was happy. Rinoa two-year-old daughter and Slephie's one year old wore lilac purple dresses. In their hairs wore crowns of lilacs and their sandy coloured hair hung loosely about their shoulders. He pulled at his collar on his SeeD uniform. He looked over to his other fellow males who had been roped into the ceremony as well. Zell was cradling his one-year-old son in his arms after he fell on the ground. Zell's wife was next to him trying to stop the crying child. Irvine was next to Rinoa and Selphie. He was wearing his new nametag on his uniform today. Squall snicker at the fact that the man cherished his new position as doctor of Garden.

Seifer was smile like a mad man. Squall smiled inwardly. To think this man, who only two years ago was a mad man, was very happy back at Garden teaching and marrying Quistis. 

His gaze turned from Seifer to Rinoa. She wore a royal purple dress much like the one Selphie wore. The bodice was cut square and hung from her hips. She wore a crown of green ivy in her hair. It was simple yet elegant. He sighed inwardly as he watched her talk and holds the child. He wished he could have been there with her, that the little girl she held was his child as well. He shook his head as he came back from his little dream. The little girl was not his child. It was another faceless man that he cared not to think about. He had lost his chance with Rinoa long ago and he was not going to try again. The picture was taken and then that was that.

"Can we get a picture of the Bridal party without the Bride and Groom?" The photographer said

Squall tried to back out but Selphie would not have it and stuck him next to Rinoa who was holding her little girl. Squall studied Rinoa for another moment and then the picture was taken. The photographer then motioned for couple pictures. Squall was about to escape but then the photographer was up in his face.

"Can I get a picture of you, you wife and daughter?" Squall was shocked.

He glanced at Rinoa and noticed her face was pale with shock.

"Mommy I wanna take more pictures." The little girl said from Rinoa's arms.

Squall looked at the girl and then back to the photographer. 

"I'm not married to him and he is not her father." Rinoa was scolding the photographer.

Squall laughed any ways.

~*~

"He got us to take that photo any ways," Squall whispered under his breath as he traced the frame of the picture with the three of them in it. They almost looked like a happy couple. A mother, a father and a child, who were happy and content with their lives as they were. Squall sighed and then hung his head. 

"Squall please help me?" Rinoa cried frantically from her sleep

Squall rushed to her side. He did not want to wake her for fear of her going into shock; instead he spoke to her in a soft voice. 

"Rinoa I'm here don't worry." He said softly

"No you're not Squall. It hurts I need you here." She muttered incoherently

Squall was puzzled. Rinoa was not making any sense in what she was saying. 

"Our daughter Squall, she's coming. She's about to be born." She said and then stopped. Rinoa fell limp against the pillow. Her eyes fluttered open. Brown met blue in a glance of horror and understanding.

~*~

Squall sat in the deserted cafeteria. It was past lights out for the cadets. This was a time that instructors and staff could enjoy the peace and quite of the Garden and a cup of coffee. Tonight nobody but the commander was in the cafeteria. The low lights reflected off the marble tables casting a faint greenish hue over Squall's face.

Today had been the memorial service for his daughter. Julia was gone. His only daughter was gone from this world. It was sickening that he had a daughter and he failed to do anything about it. He sipped the cold coffee and grimaced.

"This should help you." Said a gruff voice 

Squall looked up at the man. He was holding a sliver flask, which reeked of alcohol. Squall took the offering and placed a heavy amount in his coffee cup. He sipped at the coffee again and then turned his tired eyes to the man who had sat down in front of him.

"So how is Rinoa taking the whole disappearance thing?" He asked as he watched Squall down his coffee laced gin.

"Not really all that well." Squall said quietly

There was silence between the two men.

"As one father to another, I know what it is like to lose a child. I'll be here for you." He said 

Squall just bowed his head. The other man could hear the sobs that Squall made as his head bowed.

"Why did I not know? Why did I care more about work then Rinoa and my child, Laguna? Why?" Squall sobbed

"Why did I think not to ask your mother if she was pregnant with you? Because she loved me so much that she did not want to interrupt my dream to become a journalist. She put my happiness over her own." Laguna said with a sigh

"But you have had time to a least try and make up with me. I don't. I've lost my chance." Squall face was now void of the tears.

"He has a point." Said a voice from behind them. 

Both of the men looked at their new guest. It was Rinoa. Her eyes were red rimed with all the crying she had done over the day. She was wearing a black dress and her black hair was swept off her face. 

"I'm sorry I never told you. It's not your fault. What Laguna said about Raine was very true about me. I saw a great future ahead for you. Me and Julia would have never fit in that future." She said as she took a seat between the two men.

Squall looked to Rinoa. She had sacrificed her happiness for his. She went and had Julia on her own as well as raise her. It was hard to tell her that she really had no father when she was little. She was always jealous of Raymond and Lily." Rinoa said trying to choke back the fresh set of tears.

Squall gave Laguna a look and he got up and left. Squall came closer to Rinoa. 

"Tell me more about our daughter?" He asked emphasizing the 'our' part.

Rinoa sniffed and then looked into Squall's blue eyes.

"Well she looks like the both of us…" She trailed off and then looked at Squall again, "I guess that you did not noticed that even though she's been hear at Garden for more then fourteen years." Squall was silent trying to avoid her gaze.

"She's bossy and a tomboy." She said with a little laugh, "I figure she got this way because of Zell. But when I look back at my days in Timber I was a lot like she was." Rinoa began to trace patterns on the table.

"I remember the first day you came back to Garden. She was hiding behind your skirt. She was scared to becoming to Garden." Squall said with a small smile

"Yeah and then next thing you know she set lose all the biology departments dissection frogs hoping they would just go off into the forest and instead they ended up clogging up the fountain. She was smart for a two year old" She giggled

"Do you remember the time she and Raymond had the hot dog eating contest?" Squall remarked

"Oh yeah and the two had to be taken to the infirmary to have their stomachs pumped." Rinoa answered. Both of their laughter died off.

"She's really gone." Rinoa stated and then began to cry again.

Squall did his best to comfort the grieving mother.

~*~

Raymond sat at the computer desk in his room, after the lights out issue for younger cadets. He was typing away at keyboard hell bent on whatever it was that drove him. Zell popped his head into his room.

"What are ya up to?" Zell asked his blond haired son

"Hn." Was all he could reply to the question.

Zell moved into his room completely. Looking around he noticed the floor was covered with old issues of Timber Maniacs and Occult Fan. Zell rubbed his head at the mess.

"I see you've become addicted to the paranormal again." Zell said with a half laugh.

Raymond just grunted again. He continued to type away on the keyboard in front of him. Zell sat down on the boy's messy bed.

"You know you can't bring back Julia?" Zell said in a soft yet sad voice

Raymond grunted again. Zell became angered. He stood up briskly and then went to behind the computer and unplugged the computer.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" Raymond yelled.

"You need to see the doctor." Zell said with a worried look and then pulled his son into a hug.

~*~

(Some where in time)

A young girl floated in what looked to be an iridescent area. The air around her pulsed different colours with every breath she took. The little girl began to panic 

'Where am I?' a girl asked the air

'You have kome to me, my child.' A heavily accented voice called from the air

'What do you have that I want?' She asked 

'More my dear it's what you can give me.' The voice began to cackle and then the world went black. 

TBC…


	5. I Hear But I Don't Respond.

A Little Light 

By: Krazy Kool Snowborder Chick

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers. 

A/N: More jumping this time. **Mental **movie montage moment, which means you have to picture what, is going on along with some music I'll note the time and place. 

"Have you ever felt that you were alone in the world?" Lily questioned as she sat with her lap in her mothers.

"Many times." Selphie coed to her daughter in a soft voice and stoked her hair.

Lily shifted her head and then closed her eyes.

"Why did they not search for Julia?" The girl asked as a little girl would about the world

Selphie hesitated, "I don't know honey. I don't know"

~*~

(AN: Insert music. I would recommend Romance from the Escaflowne soundtrack by Yoko Kanno. It has the memory quality to it. I would also recommend Very Little Wishes from the Macross Plus Soundtrack. Or anything else by Yoko Kanno she has good quality of music and is a great composer.)

"So how are you doing?" A woman in a white skirt and blue green top asked the man in a white tee shirt and black pants.

"Fine I guess." He sighed and then looked towards the horizon

"When do you guys have to clean out her room and gather her personal effects?" Ellone pushed back her hair as the breeze played with it.

"Rinoa wants to leave it. I think it should be transferred to the little nursery that use to be hers." He said with a flick of his wrist to check the time.

"Do you remember the day we sat in the field and you told me all about mom?" He asked the woman

"Who could forget? It was just before the Ethstar guards came and took me away." She giggled

"I did." He said solemnly

"That's not your fault." She replied and placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a side ways hug.

"Well I think it was one of the most perfect days in my life. Next to the day I met Rinoa." He uttered

"I think seeing your daughter born would have been the most perfect day of your life would it not?" she said as she watched him carefully

"It would. I keep playing images in my mind. Julia is being born in the infirmary. The warm breeze coming in off the sea, seeing Rinoa and her happy face. I help her. I coach her and I love her." He said in a soft voice.

"Well maybe I could give you a little taste of what you missed." Ellone whispered

Squall glanced over at Ellone and then the sharp pain hit his skull. He was out cold.

He was in his father's body. It was in a room in the presidential place of Ethstar. Opulent but a breeze came in from the large windows. He glanced over at Rinoa. Her face was contorted in pain as well as covered with sweat. He watched from in Laguna's mind as He coached Rinoa to give birth, which seem to take forever. Just as Rinoa was about to give up, the doctors pulled the baby from her body. The little girl was tiny, screaming and pink. He could feel his heart tear and break at the sight. He immediately fell in love with the tiny baby she held. 

He was jerked out of Laguna's body quickly and placed into another. He could see things and hear things and they were all of his daughter and what the others had seen as she grew up.

(**AN: Montage moment**)

(Fad into Quistis and Rinoa naming her)

(Fad into Rinoa giving Julia her first bath)

(Fad into Rinoa putting Julia to bed)

(Fad into Rinoa and Laguna taking Julia to the park)

(Fad into Julia smiling)

(Fad into Julia's first steps)

(Fad into Julia and her mother talking about her father)

(Fad into Julia playing with Lily and Raymond)

(Fad into Rinoa and Julia dancing during Quistis' wedding reception)

(Fad into Julia's first day as a cadet)

(Fad into the many bumps and bruises she receives)

(Fad into Julia receiving her dog Princess)

(Fad into Rinoa popping her head into sees Rinoa practice a kata in the sunlit studio)

(Fad into Raymond trying to teach Julia how to play one of his video games.)

(Fad into the Dance class for the cadets and teaching them the waltz for the moon and other dances they need to know. Julia fumbling and then getting the hang of the dance)

(Fad into Julia smiling again)

(Fad into Julia receiving her SeeD commission)

(Fad into Julia looking at the photo album)

(Fad into Julia fingering the photo of Squall and Rinoa)

(Fad into Julia hugging her mom goodbye)

~*~

He came to instantly. Squall looked at Ellone. She was smiling happy she had given her little brother a chance to witness his daughter's life. He mouthed a silent thank you and picked himself up and walked off on a mission to try and save whatever it was he had to save.

~*~

Rinoa sat in her classroom. She wore a pair of black rimmed reading glasses and was bent over the papers her first year cadets had given her a few days ago. The sunlight streamed into the classroom. She did not notice that the door had opened. A shadow came to rest over her. It distracted her. She pulled off her glasses and glanced up at her visitor. 

In front of her stood Squall. He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye and then offered her his hand. She accepted it and they left the room together.

~*~

She sat in the blackness. She was scared and alone. There was no way to escape this prison. She would either have to comply with the sorceress plans or face an untimely death. She shuddered at the thought of her last meeting with the sorceress.

~*~

(Unknown portal of Time)

"Little one do you know what power you are kappable of?" The woman said in a sly voice

Julia shook her head and then watched the woman come closer to her with her eyes, never leaving her.

"You my dear are to be the most powerful sorceress of all time. By my sources I was told I was to be the most powerful sorceress of all time." She said in an evil voice

Julia continued to stare at the woman in front of her.

"Well this is were I kome to my dilemma. You see that once your pitiful sorceress of a mother and your pathetic spat of a father defeated me in my Time Kompression, I had to pass my great powers on to someone. It seems that I found the one you call Matron. She accepted some of my power with whole heart. She soon became mad with my powers. But it seemed that she only received half of my power" The woman paused for a moment and moved to the other side of Julia in a languid movement.

"Matron's power, my power passed onto your disgraceful mother. Then it passed onto you when you were born. And you are thinking now where did the other part of my power go? The answer is that the other half of my power went somewhere into time where I kould not detect it. I did not realize it till recently that it was hidden under the ocean in a Test Facility. As you kame of age and into you powers, like your mother did in her seventeenth year, the attacks on Ethstar Test Facility happened. The monsters of the underground, normally peacefully kreaturs kould sense my power and tried to protect the GF. Ethstar sent for you and then you kame to me." She said the last word close in Julia's ears

~*~

Julia curled up into a little ball. What followed after was something she would never want to remember ever but it haunted her every time she closed her eyes for sleep. Ultimacia had invaded her mine, made her see things that no one at any age should see. She saw war, as well as the death and mangled SeeD that littered the outside of Ultimacia. She then was subjected to images of her friends, aunts and uncles and her mother dead, no life left in them. It was what broke her to no extent. She was dead inside.

~*~

"Thank you for helping me to do this." Rinoa said to Squall as they reached Julia's dorm room door.

"It's no problem." He replied and then looked at the door.

Under the dorm room number was a little nameplate. 'Heartilly, Julia'. Rinoa tapped the plate and then crossed her arms

"Zell made that for her." She said sadly

"Was she close to Zell?" Squall asked and looked at Rinoa.

"He was like a father to her. Her and Raymond had something in common. They both had a missing parent." She said to him.

Squall nodded and then placed then entry code into the data pad and unlocked the door. He let Rinoa go before him. As he entered she took a quick glance around. It was neat, but not military neat like he. It was comfortable, much like Rinoa's room. There were pictures around the room of her and her friends. On her bead there was a worn teddy with a red ribbon. Rinoa went to it as soon as she entered Squall sat down next to her.

"Laguna gave this to her when she was born." She said and handed him the teddy bear. Squall played with the ribbon. "I used to have a security toy. It was a purple elephant," She continued. She turned to face him. Tears were in her eyes, "Did you ever have a toy?" She asked him

"Yeah" He replied as he rubbed the back of his neck. He turned the bear up side down to look at the tag. In bold black writing it said Julia. Under it in faded red there was two letters. Squall squinted to make out the words. S L. 

"Squall Leonheart." Squall muttered under his breath

Rinoa perked up, "That was your bear?" She questioned

'Yeah it's the one that Matron gave to me after I came to the orphanage. She told me it was a gift from my father. When I questioned her about Laguna she wouldn't tell me anything." He said with sadness.

Rinoa stood up and began to walk around the room. She looked at the photos on her bookshelf. There was the one she took of her and her friends on the day they had become SeeDs. She moved to the big picture she had of Quistis' wedding. In the corner of the picture was the little picture of her and Squall. She plucked it out of the frame and turned it over. She read the writing on the back.

'Squall and Rinoa together forever.'

Squall came up behind her and placed both of his hand on her shoulder. She turned her head towards him.

"I remember that day." He said in a soft voice

"I do to." She replied back to him

"It was the day after we defeated Ultimacia. That night I told you I loved you." He spun her around to face him.

Rinoa looked into his blue eyes and then brought her fingers to trace the fading scar on his forehead. Squall looked back into her brown ones. He began to lean forward. Rinoa closed her eyes as she leaned into Squall. Their lips meet in a whispered touch. It sent shivers up and down each other's spines. It was like their first kiss all over.

"I'm sorry to bother you." Said a soft voice

Both Squall and Rinoa broke apart fast. Squall turned red as Rinoa turned to the newcomer. It was Lily and her eyes were red from crying.

"Lily it's good to see you." Rinoa said as she moved towards the girl in the door way

"Mom said that she lent you her vegetarian cookbook, but she needs it back so she can cook us Bean Stir Fry." She said in a timid voice.

Rinoa's eyes widened and then she placed a hand on her head. "Oh I forgot to give that back to her. Come on Lily we'll go to my place together to get it." She said as she grabbed the girl's hand and walked her out of the room. 

Squall watched Rinoa leave and then shook his head. He walked over to the bed and sat down again and picked up the bear. As he surveyed the room again he noticed a book on her desk that was lying open. He stood and went over to see what it was. He picked it up and read the first line

'6046, New Moon,

My name is Julia Heartilly and today is my thirteenth birthday.' 

Squall continued to read it intrigued him to know that his daughter wanted him in her life as much as she did. He heard a rap at the door and quickly pocketed the journal. It was Zell and he had a grim look and his face.

~*~

"What the matter with Ray?" Lilly asked as she looked at the sedated Raymond on the bed in the infirmary.

"We don't know dear." Irvine said with reassurance as he began to do a body scan of Raymond.

Zell was in the corner bighting his nails. Rinoa began to translate the data into information so she could find the right magic to cure whatever possible virus Raymond would have. Squall stood patiently next to Zell hoping that his composure would help Zell. Soon the warning lights went off.

"He's a lot worse off then I thought he was when I first scanned him when he got back." Irvine said and then turned to Lily. "Lily did anything else happen that you failed to tell me."

"He ended up come in contact with a force field. It was GF magic I think." She said like a ghost

"All right that answers a lot of my questions." Irvine said with gloomy look

"What's the matter Irv?" Zell asked Squall placed a hand on his shoulder trying to calm the blond haired man.

"He's been affected by a time distortion." He said grimly

Everyone's face fell.

TBC… 


	6. If You Prick Us Do We Not Bleed?

A Little Light 

By: Krazy Kool Snowborder Chick

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers. 

Lily stood out in the courtyard going through the kata she knew so well. She was trying to forget that her one friend was dead and the other one lay in the infirmary. With every move she began to feel the gap that the last mission had caused in her heart.

As she punched the air, she caught her left foot on her ankle and fell to the ground. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She had never wanted to be left alone. She had dreaded this feeling since she was a little child. But here she was all alone with no one to comfort her.

~*~

In the void in which she sat, one had a lot of time to think. She played scenes over in her head to keep herself calm. The day she sat in the field with her mother and they watched as the flower petals surrounded them. The day she and Lily were able to catch a glimpse of the fabled Phoenix twisting through the air. The day she and Raymond met. Instructor Trepe's wedding. They were happy times that seemed to keep the sharp edge of darkness from closing in on her. 

"My, my. I think it is time my pretty to forget those thought of the past and accept my offer to make you the most powerful being in the whole of time." Leered the voice in which she had come to detest during her captivity.

She tried to resist as the hand reached for her, but she was week and tired and she gave in easily. 

"It is time to bekome your true self, GREIVER AWAKEN!" The voice cackled.

~*~

"He might not make it through the night, I'm sorry Zell." Irvine said and then left the blonde haired man next to his son,

Zell sighed and then stretched out his arms. Rinoa sat in the corner just watching the anguished father. The boy looked pale in the fading sunlight. The heart monitor beeped slowly as it monitored the failing life signs of the boy they all loved. Zell began to murmur to the body.

"Hey Ray it's me daddy. Yeah I know you haven't called me that since you were like two but it's something I have always held dear to my heart." Tears appeared at the corners of his eyes

"I know you can pull through. Look at when you were three and after the car crash. The doctors told me that you would be permanently brain damaged and that you would never wake up. You proved them wrong." He sniffed and then wiped his eyes.

Rinoa began to cry at the words. She could almost identify with Zell's pain. Losing a child was hard. 

"Come on Ray, please open your eyes and tell me you're going to be alright." Zell cried out in anguish.

Rinoa sensed that this was going to be Zell's final time with his son and left the room. She leaned up against the wall. She could feel the pain of loss course through her veins. It hit her full force. She slid to the floor crying for the loss of Julia.

~*~

"Sir there is a transmission coming in from Ethstar." Nida stated to Squall over the COM link

Squall rubbed his eyes and then pressed the button in response. "Send it on up." 

On the screen appeared Laguna. He looked worn and from the looks of it the presidential palace was in chaos. In the background he noticed Ellone was talking to a robed official.

"Squall, we think we might have a lead on the death of Julia." He said

"Well what is it man." Squall said perking up.

"Well Ellone and I have been trying to decipher why a GF would be attracted to Julia and then we came up with the solution that Julia has some form of sorceress magic." He said grimly

"You mean that she's a sorceress?" Squall said with skepticism 

"No she is not like Rinoa or Matron. Her power is more like Ellone's but more concentrated." He said and rubbed his forehead

"Let me in, I have zee anzwer." A voice that Squall knew all to well.

"Dr. Odin has most of the answers, so I will let him do the talking." Laguna said and then made way for the aging doctor.

"Squall, you daughter iz not dead." The doctor blurted out

Squall closed his eyes. This was too much for one man to take, especially from a man who was becoming senile in his old age.

"You daughter iz merely trapped in some sort of temporal waste land." He said

"I think this would be better explained when we come to visit in a few days. Laguna out." Laguna interrupted. With that the image was gone.

'Powers like Ellone. Trapped in a temporal waste land.' Squall thought as he watched the sun set on the ocean. 

~*~

The sun began to touch the window of the infirmary. Raymond groggily tried to force his eyes open. Once they were open it took him awhile to focus his eyes. He looked around his room. He noticed his father asleep in the chair next to the bed. 

Irvine walked in to do the routine check up and noticed his young patient was awake. 

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Raymond. How are you feeling this morning?" He asked putting on his best doctor smile.

"What happened?" He crooked out into the room. Zell did not wake.

"You were affect by some time magic. It made your body speed up incredibly fast. You could say you had a near fatal burn out." 

"I'm gonna be all right?" Raymond croaked

"Yeah, by the looks of it you're going to recover." Irvine noticed that Zell had awoken. "I'll leave you two alone for now." And Irvine left the father and son to talk

~*~

(A few weeks later.)

"It's too early for this," Rinoa mumbled as her and Squall stood in the ballroom.

It was the annual SeeD graduation ball and though it was a joyous occasion for many, most still felt the gloom that Julia's death had cast upon the Garden.

"We can't let the others suffer because of our grief Rin," Squall stated as he observed the many groups of people plus the many couples who were dancing.

Rinoa nodded and then smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in the instructor's uniform she wore.

"Look on the bright side, Quistis and Seifer's oldest graduated today." Squall said as he pointed to a blonde haired boy with glasses on who looked no more than fifteen years of age.

"Yeah." Rinoa muttered and then looked at a young couple dancing to the 'Waltz for the Moon'

"Do you want to dance?" Squall asked her hoping she would at least want to try and capture the glory days of her youth.

"Not really." She answered quietly and then turned in the direction of the punch bowl.

Squall sighed inwardly 'Just try and be happy Rinoa' he thought as he went in search of Seifer.

~*~

"Are you sure you're ok?" Lily asked Raymond across from the table

"Lily, I'm fine." He snapped 

Lily shrank back and began to play with the confetti on the table. Raymond laughed and then wheeled over to his friend and embraced her.

"YOU!" Exclaimed a voice the two knew all too familiar.

Lily looked up. In front of her face was Lixue. Her normally 'calm' demeanor was now one of anger. Lily's face dropped in fear and hastily stood up and ran off.

Lixue turned to Raymond and smiled.

"What's your problem with Lily?" He asked and then adjusted his eye patch over his left eye.

"BOTHERING YOU!" She exclaimed and ran off to join her brother.

Raymond shook his head and then wheeled off to find Lily.

~*~

"RAGE, REVENGE, and HATE. These are the emotions that should be your guide in this new body." The voice screamed into her ear.

"HATE, RAGE, and REVENGE." She growled back

"Good. Now the time has come for me to take my place again. I will once again Konqure time. Julia my dear awaken the power with in you that only you know how too. " The voice quivered with greed

"As you wish, master." Julia rumbled 

Lifting her blue fur arms, she turned her palm upwards towards the sky as to gather a charge. The sky began to rumble and then a sheet of lightning appeared and collected into her hands. Then turning her palms she forced the contained lighting into the air opening a seam into the fabric of time. She turned back to her master and then grinned showing off her sharp feral teeth. She then jumped into the portal and out of the temporal wasteland.

~*~

Ellone bolted right out of her bed. She was covered in the cold damp sweat that had appeared because of fear. She was panting. She played her nightmare over again in her head. She could see her niece. She was not the cute little tomboy she had once now. Instead there was a blue haired lioness that the evil sorceress kept calling Griever. Flinging off the covers, Ellone became aware of another presence in the room. 

"Ellone?" Ellone shrieked but then looked closer at her guest

"Oh," She sighed, "It's just you Uncle Laguna." She placed a hand over her heart

"That's me." He said and stuck out his tong and placed his hand behind his head. "Are you ok?" He asked turning more serious.

"Yeah, I'm all right. But Uncle Laguna, the world is in trouble. Big Trouble." She gasped

Laguna became horrified with just that phrase.

~*~

"Dante you know I'm proud of you." Quistis said as she hugged her son.

"Me proud to Dan, me proud to." A little blond haired pixy voiced as she reached for his arms.

"Well I'm glad to here that Phoebe." Dante laughed as he twirled the little girl around in his arms

"So what next for the almighty Sir Dante Almsay." Dante looked up and noticed his father standing in the door way smirking

"I don't know, maybe make sure the Princess is locked safely away in the tower." He flashed his mother the Almsay award winning smile and then tickled his sister.

"And rightly so. So Sir Dante I give you the challenging task of putting you sister the Princess Phoebe to bed." Quistis said and then pushed Dante towards Phoebe's bedroom.

Quistis smiled and then turned to Seifer. They hugged each other. After a few minutes Quistis broke away and looked into Seifer's green eyes.

"You know Quisty we should be so lucky." He said in a low voice.

"I know." She replied

"What do you think you would do if we lost Phoebe or Dante?" He asked her

"I think in most cases I would be like Rinoa is now, dealing with the pain the best I could. And you?" She said as she gazed into the green depths.

Seifer hesitated. "I'd be right there with you Instructor Trepe." He smiled

"I know you would. What made you bring this up?" She said with a smile

"Ah Squall came up to me and asked me if Rinoa was like this when we broke up." He said massaging the back of his neck.

"Oh, I see. I think what Squall wants, is to have Rinoa back. I think he needs her as much as she needs him right now." Quistis said with a tone of sadness

"You noticed too." He smiled softly

"You too get a room." Dante called to his parents as they were still embracing.

"You go to yours young man." Seifer said as he pointed his finger at his son and then smiled

"Goodnight you two." He stated with a wave and then left for his quarters.

"Night." They both replied as they watched their son leave.

~*~

"There you are!" Selphie exclaimed as she found Rinoa on the balcony

Rinoa turned to face Selphie. Her eyes were rimmed red. Selphie's happy face dropped once she noticed her friend.

"What's the matter honey?" Selphie asked in her concerned motherly type voice

"I can't do it any more. I can't take the pain." She said as a fresh wave of tears spilled from her eyes.

Selphie grasped Rinoa tightly to her chest. She smoothed Rinoa's hair down as the woman broke into tears. She soothed her with words that most mothers give their children when they were hurt.

"I want it to go away. Selphie please make it stop." Rinoa pleaded and continued to cry.

"It's going to be alright, Rin. " She soothed and then continued to calm the woman down.

In the dark shadows Squall stood. He was trying for her. He was trying to be there but how could he when he did not know what to do. He leaned against the wall and broke down into tears he thought he could ever find again.

~*~

'For your first task, find the one they call Matron' that command rang in her mind as clear as what she had for breakfast almost a month ago.

She looked at the grey brick building. Snarling under her breath she noticed the young boys and girls who played on the beach below the cliff. She walked up to the door. Knocking harshly she was greeted with the smiling face most cadets and SeeD knew as Matron. She was not as old as she was now. She was younger; her grey hair was the colour of ebony wood. It was shiny and soft. She smiled at Julia.

"Come on in, I've been expecting you." She said and then ushered in the lion like beast that Julia had become.

Julia just sarcastically grinned at the woman, but followed her into the living room.

"I could tell you were coming. Two days ago I received powers from another sorceress. I suspect that you are an underling of hers, sent here to kill me?" She smiled 

"No," Julia hissed, "I here to change the fabric of time." 

"But you understand that a change might destroy yourself." Matron gasped 

The blue haired lioness just laughed. "It will not destroy me. I will shape it. I was destined to shape time to my liking." 

"Then what do you need with me?" Matron narrowed her eyes. 

"I need your power!" Julia declared

~*~

"Lily?" Raymond called out into the dark of the courtyard

"I'm right here." She stated meekly as she came out from behind the bush

"Why have you been hiding there?" he said with a laugh

"Cause" Lily looked at the ground and kicked the tile on the floor

"Cause why?" Raymond wheeled up next to her

"Because, I supposedly took Lixue's guy away from her." She let it out

"You mean to say that Nook has a thing for you. That 's so damn hilarious." Raymond laughed almost falling out of his chair.

"Is not. I hate the creep." She cried and then kicked Raymond's wheel.

"Hey you should watch what you do or…" 

"Or what you'll kiss me." Lily retorted back

"No that would be like kissing my sister." Raymond said

Lily kicked the chair again and then ran off. Raymond began to chase her. 

In the distance Irvine and Zell watched the two chase each other through the courtyard.

"It's good to see those two getting back to normal." Zell said crossing his arms across his chest.

"Well I guess you could say semi-normal." Irvine said with a pat to Zell's back

Zell eyed the man next to him. "What do you mean semi-normal? What did you do to my son, Kinneis?" 

"Nothing I just meant that for my life." Irvine said nonchalantly.

"What did you do this time to screw up?" Zell looked at his friend

"I got my wife pregnant." He said with a laugh

"Congratulations are in order then." Zell said and then gave his friend a male hug.

TBC…


	7. A Cry of Angels Means Death on the Morro...

A Little Light 

By: Krazy Kool Snowborder Chick

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8. Those people at Square do. So don't come to my door begging for money, and I mean in the form of lawyers. 

Squall paced up and down the corridor. The three women had been in the room for most of the day. Ellone had come to him earlier asking for a room and giving him an explanation that it was of up most importance that she be left alone for the rest of the day with Rinoa and Matron. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Soon the door opened and one tired Rinoa walked out. She looked at him and then smiled grimly. He nodded and pulled her into a hug. They stayed like that for along time,

~*~

"So Ultimacia has Julia?" Zell stated as the large group that had become a family sat around the table.

Ellone nodded, "She's using her to alter time. She can do this because Julia has a power that goes beyond what all three of us who have powers can do." She pointed at Rinoa and Matron who were sitting to her right.

"And what does she plan to alter?" Quistis asked as she was sitting next to Seifer.

"She wants what you did in the past to fad. She wants her plan to work. She wants to destroy us all." Laguna said from his seat next to Squall.

"So what are we to do?" Selphie asked as she absentmindedly rubbed her stomach and the new life growing inside.

"Well we have formulated a plane that might work." Matron said with a little hesitation

"It means that the three of us go to the Sorceress Memorial and call on the power that Julia is using to travel between the times and bring about the time compression again." Rinoa said point blank.

"Isn't there a chance that it might destroy you all?" Irvine asked looking to Rinoa and then to the others around the table

"Yes, but I'm willing to risk it for my daughter." Rinoa said standing up and leaning on the table.

"Then that settles it. Selphie prepare the ship. We're all going to Ethstar." Squall said from his seat and then left the room as fast as he had come in.

Rinoa blinked and then fell into the chair. She was all alone when she came back from her dream state. 'I'm going to die.' She said in her mind and then placed her head on the table to cry.

~*~

The wind blew her now blue hair into her eyes. She narrowed them as she watched the red ship she knew so well approach the monument. She growled and then flexed her muscles. This was a fight she would have to think hard about.

'Is my plans going as predicted' A voice rang in her head.

'It is my lady, they are coming to set what they want right again' Julia growled back

'Good' the voice replied and was gone in an instant.

'Good is right' Julia thought to herself as she watched the group come towards her

~*~

"Why couldn't we come along?" Lily whined as she kicked the wall she and Dante where sitting on. Raymond sat below them

"Because we're not as important to the group as we think we are." Dante snuffed and copied Lily's feet movements.

"You weren't even there at the incident." Raymond said poking his head up from his laptop.

"Well… your right who am I kidding." Dante said in defeat

"It's ok. I still like you unlike the chicken wuss here." Lily said with a laugh.

Raymond stuck his tong out and flipped her off.

"Fuck you to buddy." She replied jumping off the wall and then kicking the chair.

"Owe my virgin ears." Dante said playfully

"Hey honey the only thing virgin on you is your nose and your ears and those have already been fingered as well." Raymond said in a gay sounding voice eliciting giggles from the others.

~*~

"So what do we do?" Rinoa said wrapping the dark brown leather duster around her waist.

"First we have to join hand and then." Ellone was cut off by the sounds of growls

"You can never reach the point that you want to." The voice said

The three women turned around and were greeted with the sight of the blue lioness. Rinoa gasped and then fell to the ground. Ellone rushed to her side. Matron stood there calmly.

"Your attempts will be futile." Julia hissed

"W…WH…why?" Rinoa sputtered

"Because you're precious Matron does not have her powers anymore. Time will begin to change. It has across the rest of time. But for some reason it has not reshaped itself right here" 

"It has not because of the spirit of your mother and father." Matron said with a sigh

"Well I hate them. I hate them all. Prepare to suffer a fate worse then death." She hissed.

~*~

"What's taking so long?" Selphie mumbled as she swung the flail around then bouncing back and forth.

"Calm down Sel. you're just as antsy as Zell is." Irvine said from his spot against the ship.

"Then how come I've even got the creeps?" Seifer stated

Squall nodded at Seifer's comment. He could feel something in his blood that was not unlike what the others could feel.

"I think it's time for some action." Zell said punching the air and then running down the path.

Squall motioned for the rest to follow. They ran down the path only to be greeted with a battle they never had expected.

~*~

"Where's your little sis?" Raymond asked Dante

Dante looked up from the card game he was sharing with Lily. "Oh Nida said he'd take care of her while mom and dad went on this mission." He said and then laid down his card

Lily looked at the board and placed a card down causing a flip over of one of Dante's cards. Dante smiled and then laid down the card he was saving. It flipped over ever card on the board that was not his. Lily began to curse but stopped when she felt an eerie chill creep into her bones.

"Did you feel that?" Raymond said to the two of them

Both nodded. 

"I think the apocalypse is coming. And even though my mom jokes that I'm going to bring it. I think I'm not the one." Dante said with an uneasy laugh as the three teenagers turned to look at the sky as it began to turn bright crimson.

~*~

"My plan it is working. I am gaining what power I had lost." A voice crowed

The beast girl smiled as a woman appeared in front of her. She smiled sadistically at the bodies that lay unconscious on the ground. She kneeled as the woman placed her hand on her shoulder.

"What work you have done my beauty. You have exceeded my expectations." She smirked and then began to walk among the bodies. 

Rinoa cocked open her eyes. A trickle of blood trailed down her face. Next to her she spied Squall's body. The monster that had been her daughter too had injured him. He was looking right at her. She desperately reached out her hand for his but the woman kicked it away. Then with a force that Rinoa could only guess was magic she was flung from her position on the ground to a painful standing position. The same was done to Squall. 

Ultimacia walked between the two and eyed them. She brought a long finger up to Squall's check and dragged the nail down causing it to spout his life's blood on to his white dress shirt. Ultimacia grinned evilly.

"You think you kan kome and destroy the likes of me with love." She sneered and the pointed towards the demon that Julia had become. "Your silly notions that love can save have turned your own daughter against you. How do you feel about that?" She said with triumph in her face

"Proud." Squall spat out

Rinoa was stunned. She looked towards Julia who was shifting uncomfortable on the balls of her paws. Ultimacia squinted her eyes, as she looked Squall over.

"Why proud? You did not even know you had a daughter until she disappeared from the world. Does that mean a person has to die for you to love them?" She asked with a sly undertone

"I would have been proud of her if I was there for her." He looked at Julia

"Would you?" She sneered

Squall looked towards his daughter and then to Rinoa. "I may have not got to see her grow up like the rest of my friends and family, but she had turned into such a bright young woman. She was going to be a good…" Ultimacia brought her hand into contact with Squall's face causing the blood that was on his check to splatter over onto Rinoa.

The part of Julia that was trapped inside the body of Griever gasped as she watched as the evil sorceress hurt the man who had just admitted to being her father. She began to struggle with the demon. 

'Love always wins. Love can conquer all.' She kept repeating to herself as she fought.

"DADDY!" She screamed and then fell to the ground.

(A/N: Music moment: Think 'Ring' a song from Please Save My Earth for this earth shattering scene)

Light began to flash around the memorial. All who were unconscious were now awaking. The light became too intense for them. For Julia it was painful. Her body was raised from the ground. She watched as the fur flew off her skin and light replaced it. Her body began it transmogrification back to the body it once was. She could feel the demon leave her body and her soul become clean.

Rinoa watched with awe as her daughter transformation into a higher power happened. She could feel the magic pulse through her and she found herself liking hands with Ellone and Matron who had come up beside her. She closed her eyes and began to chant unfamiliar words that seemed now familiar. She could tell Ellone and Matron were chanting along with her.

Excitate vow e somno, liberi Mei. 

_Cunae non sunt. _

_Excitate vow e somno, liberi fatali._

_Somnus non eat. _

_(Wake up from your dream, my children._

_There is no cradle.              _

_Wake up from your dreams, fated children._

_The dream is not going.)    _

_Ardente veritate_

_Urite mala mundi._

_Ardente veritate   _

_Incendite tenebras mundi._

_(Burn with truth Scorch the world of evil.     _

_Burn with truth    _

_Set fire to the world of darkness)_

As they reached their final note of the chant, Julia's body appeared from the cocoon of light. Her naked skin glowed and shimmered with the fading light that she had created. Out of her back came two white angelic wings. Near to her back there were gold cuffs that seem to blaze in the crimson of the sky. Her arms and legs were crossed across her body hiding her naked body from the eyes of every one. Ultimacia began to shudder as Julia unfolded her body. As she extended her body, her eyes flicked open showing that her eyes were no longer the brown they had once been but now they were the deep grey eyes that her father was known for. 

At that time the three sorceresses fell to the ground. The group ran to their sides. Julia turned and smiled to them as they pulled their bodies to safety. She then turned her attention back to Ultimacia coming as close as she could to the evil witch. She smiled and placed a kiss on her brow. Cherry blossoms began to swirl around the two women. Ultimacia's eyes clouded over and in an instant her body turned to dust. 

Julia then floated up into the sky and disappeared. The ground then began to shake. Rinoa looked into the sky and smiled. Her daughter had become an angel, they way she had always wanted her to become. Then her world turned black.

~*~

Rinoa could feel the breeze come in off the window. Cracking open her eyes she could tell she was in the infirmary of Garden. She smiled and then looked around. In the chair next to the bed was Squall. He was asleep and looked peaceful. Something she had not seen since their first night together. She tried to stretch the stiff body when the door opened. In came Irvine he wore a smile. She felt confused but when he stepped away a girl dressed in a white Grecian style dress entered behind him. Rinoa bolted out of the bed and ran towards the girl. She grasped the girl in a close embrace and began to cry.

"Julia, your alive. Your alive." Rinoa sobbed

"I missed you mom." Julia cried back

Squall, who had woken up when Rinoa had yelled their daughter's name, was standing back from the scene waiting for his turn. When Rinoa finally let go of their daughter, Squall swooped in and locked the two in a bear hug. The little group was on it's way to becoming a family.

~*~

(Ending Credits time, the music playing in the back ground if 'Little Light of Love' from the fifth element soundtrack. Mental picture time)

The setting is a party in Garden's massive ballroom. People are gathered around tables and there are people dancing on the dance floor. The camera swings around to focus on two people. The woman who we can see is Rinoa is dressed in a long white gown with thin straps and a shear almost transparent over coat over top of the dress. Squall is standing next to her in his SeeD uniform. They wave to the camera and the person who is filming waves back. They then motion for the person who is filming to come in front of the camera. The person declines but then hands of the camera and comes to stand in front of them. It's Julia in her SeeD uniform. Julia waves and then runs behind the camera. 

She swings it around to focus on Lily who is standing with Raymond and Dante they wave and then Dante runs up towards the camera motioning Julia to follow him. He points to Seifer dressed in his SeeD uniform and Quistis who is dressed in a short halter dress with matching peach shrug. They are dancing with Phoebe who is wearing a frilly peach dress with lots of lace and wearing a crown of peach tinted roses on her head. 

They laugh and Dante motions to Irvine and Selphie. She is wearing a long peach dress and patting her stomach. Lily jumps into the picture and starts to make fun of her mother's large stomach and gets a strong lecture from her parents. Raymond comes and gets the camera from Julia and Julia and Dante Jump in front of the camera and lead Raymond to see the twins who are trying to coax Lily into being their leader, only to have Lixue chase Lily off camera in anger. Zell pops on screen with his mouth full of hotdogs (Not a funny as in the ending credits of VIII but still as funny) He chased the camera off and then Raymond flipped it around to Julia and Dante who had disappeared. The low battery comes on and all we get to see is Dante giving her another leather bound book. Julia gasps and the screen goes black.

THE END 

A/N: I'm planning on a sequel cause I need to discuss a few more issues that I feel need to be address but that's for another story.


End file.
